The Mt. Hood National Forest is huge. It’s beautiful, sure, but it's also incredibly unforgiving once you get off the paved roads. When the news first broke that search intensifies for missing hiker Susan Lane-Fournier near Mt. Hood, people in the tight-knit community of Welches were already bracing for the worst. It started as a standard missing persons case—an experienced hiker who hadn't shown up for work—but it quickly spiraled into a dark, complicated investigation that felt less like a wilderness accident and more like something out of a crime drama.
Susan, known to her friends as "Phoenix," was 61. She was a staple in the Hoodland area, working at the Hoodland Bazaar. When she didn't show up on a Friday in late November 2024, everyone knew something was wrong. Susan wasn't the type to just vanish. She was tough. She was also an experienced hiker who knew these trails like the back of her hand.
The Search Effort and the Red Flags
The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office didn't waste much time. By Saturday, after her white 1992 Ford F-250 was found abandoned near the Green Canyon Way Trail, the search effort exploded. We’re talking over 30 volunteers, K9 units, and drones. They combed through more than 100 miles of trail in the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness.
The weather was brutal. Snow was starting to pile up. The temperature was hovering in the 30s with that biting Oregon rain.
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Honestly, the "missing hiker" narrative started to feel thin pretty early on. Friends were vocal about it. They pointed out that Susan’s two dogs—large Malinois-mixes named Elrond and Elros—were her "protectors." They wouldn't have just let her get lost or hurt without making a massive scene. And then there was the personal stuff. Susan had recently filed for divorce from her husband of 12 years, Michel Fournier.
What the Investigation Uncovered
The search was actually suspended on a Tuesday evening. The Sheriff's Office cited "survivability" issues because of the cold. People were devastated. But behind the scenes, detectives were looking at things that had nothing to do with trail maps.
They found surveillance footage. It didn't show Susan; it showed her estranged husband, Michel, driving her truck. This was a huge deal because he’d told police he hadn't touched the vehicle. Then they found her phone. It wasn't on the trail. It was in the Columbia River.
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The search didn't end with a rescue. It ended when a friend of Susan's, James Evans, decided he wasn't going to stop looking. He went to a property near East Highway 26 and East Miller Road. He saw a blue tarp. At first, he thought it was just trash.
"I bent over to pick up the tarp and as I bent over and came up, I seen a pair of boots connected to a leg," Evans told local reporters.
It was Susan. She was found about four miles from where her truck had been staged.
A Tragedy Confirmed
The medical examiner didn't take long to rule it a homicide. Shortly after the body was found, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office arrested 71-year-old Michel Fournier. He was charged with second-degree murder.
But there was still a lingering question that haunted the community: Where were the dogs? Elrond and Elros were part of the family. A day after Susan was found, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office recovered the bodies of two dogs. They were Susan's. It was a final, heart-wrenching piece of a story that had already shattered a lot of people.
Legal Proceedings and Community Impact
As we look toward 2026, the legal system is finally catching up. Michel Fournier has been held without bail. His trial is currently scheduled to begin in late February 2026. There’s been a lot of back-and-forth between his defense and the detectives over how interviews were handled in jail, but the core of the case remains the surveillance evidence and the domestic violence history that neighbors had been worried about for months.
The community hasn't really recovered. You go to Welches now, and you still see "Phoenix" mentioned. She was a "force of nature," a woman who had the courage to try and start over.
Practical Safety Insights for the Community
While this case turned out to be a criminal matter rather than a wilderness survival situation, it highlighted how critical the initial response is when someone goes missing near Mt. Hood.
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- Trust the "Gut Check": If a reliable person misses work without a call, it's an emergency immediately. In Susan's case, the employer’s quick report allowed the truck to be found within 24 hours.
- The Power of Local Knowledge: It wasn't the official 800-hour search that found Susan; it was a friend who knew the area and refused to stop looking. Community-led searches, when coordinated with police, are often what close these cases.
- Document Everything: In cases where domestic safety is a concern, the surveillance footage from local businesses in Gresham and Portland proved to be the "smoking gun" that broke the husband's alibi.
If you have any information about Michel Fournier’s whereabouts or activities between November 21 and November 29, 2024, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office still maintains a tip line at 503-723-4949. Even small details about where the truck was spotted can help the prosecution as they head toward the February 2026 trial date. For those in the Mt. Hood community, staying vigilant about domestic violence signs is just as important as carrying a GPS on the trails.